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About Me

I’ve been cooking as long as I can remember, professionally since I was 17. I love everything about food, and spent my life pursuing it. I was an apprentice pastry chef in Innsbruck Austria before I even went to cooking school. After graduating from the Culinary Institute of America I became a full fledged Pastry Chef for a high end country club, and love it as I did there was so much more to be done, which eventually led me to catering. My catering company is just what I want it to be; I get to do something different everyday either in the kitchen or helping a bride design her ideal wedding or just researching new recipes out of my own imagination.
If you would like more details about my career, please the About page on my website www.SonomaCaterers.com.

Thursday, November 6, 2014

Is there any sweeter time of year than fall? My absolutely
favorite time of year. The chill in the
air, the smell of falling leaves, the first rains. It is time to be cozy and warm. The perfect time to cook!

Whether dipping apples or drizzling on cobbler caramel is
the essence of fall. That deep caramelized
sugar with notes of vanilla bring back child hood memories. I am not talking those small plastic wrapped
candies that you had to sit and unwrap, my memories are the wonderful smell of
caramelizing sugar with butter and vanilla. There are so many ways to use
caramel.

To caramelize - the browning of sugars. This is one of the most used terms in
cooking. Don’t think just sugar. It is usually the first step in most recipes,
from searing beef to caramelized onions.
In meats it is the Maillard reaction, causing carbohydrates in meat to
brown at 310 degrees. In baking it is
carbohydrates - sugars begins to brown at 260 degrees. It is what makes toast brown and French fries
golden. And what makes sugar into
caramel.

Today I want to talk about desserts. There are two ways I
usually caramelize sugar, dry and wet.
Each one has its own uses. Dry
method is quicker and results in a hard crack caramelized sugar good for
candies and flan. Where your wet method
stays soft and is great for sauces and soft candies. There are some key elements that are
essential to both; time, attention and a heavy bottom pan. Remember you are boiling something to 260
degrees, that is hotter than boiling water and it is sticky, if you burn
yourself it will stick to you and blister very quickly, please use caution.

For the dry method you will need a heavy sauce pan, wooden
spoon, and an immediate place to put the hot caramel. A heavy bottomed sauce pan is important to
distribute the heat evenly, otherwise you will get burnt spots. And remember the heat from the pot will
continue to cook your caramel once off the stove, so you should transfer as
soon as possible.

Dry Caramelized Sugar

Place your heavy bottom pan on the stove and add sugar. The sugar has a small quantity of moisture
and it will begin to melt and puddle. Stir
gently, it will go from clear to an amber color, once the color begins to turn
reduce the heat to low, continue to stir and watch closely as the color
increases. Remove at dark golden and finish your recipe. What you do next depends on your recipe, but
get it out of the hot pan. If the sugar
begins to smoke you have gone too far and it will be bitter, so just throw it
out and try again. Some of the recipes
this can be used in is brittles, flan, spun sugar and croquembouches.

Flan

¾ cup Sugar

4 eggs

1 can Sweet and Condensed Milk

1 can Evaporated Milk

Caramelize the sugar as we did in the Dry Caramelized Sugar method,
and pour it into a 9” round cake pan. Allow
to cool until hard. Next, combine the eggs
and milks, and whisk well, but to not whip, you don’t want too many bubbles. Place the cake pan in a roasting pan, and pour
the egg and milk mixture into the cake pan.
Add water to the roasting pan to about half way up the cake pan to
create a water bath. Bake at 350 degrees
for 50 to 60 minutes. Remove the cake
pan from the roasting pan and chill for 2 to 3 hours. To release run a knife tip around the edge
and invert on to your serving dish.

I love caramel sauce, not butterscotch, true caramel
sauce. And what could be better than
adding just a bit of sea salt. The
intense sweetness cut with just that pop of salt - oh yeah! This next recipe uses the wet method of
caramelization. This means that you will
be starting your caramel with water to boil.

Wet Caramelized Sugar

1 cup Sugar

¼ cup Water

¾ cup Cream

3 Tbl butter

1 tsp Sea Salt

Combine water and sugar in a thick bottom pan, stir or swirl
gently. Try to avoid splashes in the pot; sugar is a crystal and wants to go
back to crystal form, not stay a liquid, so if you splash crystals up onto the
sides of your pot they can fall back down into your liquid and cause it to
recrystallize (in French is called masse), making your caramel look opaque and
grainy.

Bring to a gentle boil, stirring gently. As the sugar begins to color watch closely
and turn down the heat to a medium low. You
are looking for a mid to dark amber color, since you are adding cream you need
to get enough color out of the sugar for good color in the sauce. One of my techniques is to drizzle caramel from
the spoon into the pot, look at the thin stream for color, the pot will look
darker than the drizzle. Look to the
drizzle for your color.

Remove from the heat.
This next step is tricky. You are
going to add the cream and the butter into the pan. Remember you have boiling hot sugar at this
time and you are adding liquid back in, it is going to boil hot and fast. Using a long handle spoon, gently pour cream
into the sugar stirring as you can, then add the butter. If it begins to harden, continue to stir and
return to the stove if necessary. Finish
with sea salt.

This is a great sauce for many desserts, like baked apples,
pumpkin pie and is especially great with chocolate